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Ready for More of ‘Less’? Andrew Sean Greer’s Hapless Hero Is Back.

In “Less Is Lost,” the sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic novel, the author’s writer protagonist, now over 50 and in need of cash, takes to the road once again.

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LESS IS LOST, by Andrew Sean Greer

In Andrew Sean Greer’s 2017 novel “ Less ,” our titular hero — a gay novelist of a certain age, with a handsome face, thinning hair and a roughly equal balance of success and obscurity — goes careering around the world, on the run from heartbreak and headfirst into the undiscovered country of gay middle age. (“Less’s generation often feels like the first to explore the land beyond 50,” Greer wrote. “How are they meant to do it?”) It could have been dour or glum, but Greer played it for laughs instead. “Less” is one of those literary names that tell you, if not quite everything you need to know, at least enough to go on. Like Updike’s “Rabbit,” it hops to suggest. Arthur Less is lovable but fallible, not the worst but not the best. He’s better described not by his attributes but by their absence — one observer calls him “reckless,” but isn’t it really more like “hapless”? He is, in the words of his partner, “one for whom ordering a deli sandwich and wrestling an alligator held equal levels of terror.” It’s tempting to call him luckless, but the sweet bathos of his bumbling quest — and the flashes of wit and poetry with which Greer animated it — won his author a Pulitzer Prize . Greer, a gay novelist of a certain age with a roughly equal balance of success and obscurity , was suddenly a comic novelist of note. Why trifle with a winning formula? For his follow-up this month, here comes — and who could blame him? — more of Less.

In “Less Is Lost,” Arthur is back, now on the north side of 50, happily ensconced with his younger partner, Freddy. A youthful foil in the first novel, Freddy is now “approaching 40, the age at which the charming eccentricities of one’s 20s (sleeping in a silk bonnet to save my curls and wearing rabbit-eared slippers) become the zaniness of middle age,” the distance between him and Less closing if not closed. “Less” concerned itself with the possibility of durable love and rapprochement — Less’s international expedition was inspired by both his onrushing 50th birthday and Freddy’s wedding to someone else after nine years of dallying with Arthur — but “Less Is Lost” picks up a little while later, with Freddy’s marriage dissolved and the two now shacked up, in a little house they call “the Shack,” having enjoyed “nine months of unmarital bliss.” “Who wants a middle-aged gay white novelist nobody’s ever heard of?” Less wonders with characteristic unplomb. “Me,” Freddy says. “I do.”

But happiness doesn’t drive comedy, and Greer seems unsure what to do with Less content. Send in the clouds. Less’s first love, the august older poet Robert Brownburn, dies, leaving him not the house (Brownburn is the Shack’s legal owner), but the stack of rent bills Less has apparently never bothered to pay. Comfortable chaos is restored. Less, a ditherer in monetary matters, must suddenly raise 10 years’ worth of rent or lose his love nest. So, as in “Less,” in which he accepted every invitation that came his way in order to circle the world, here he takes every paying gig, wherever it may lead. An ordinary writer might work from his garret. Less, once again, takes to the road.

Thus do the gears of the picaresque begin to turn. Less accepts an assignment to profile a best-selling sci-fi novelist (H.H.H. Mandern, a minor character in the first novel), and finds himself chauffeuring him and a pug called Dolly on a road trip through the American Southwest in an aging camper van called Rosina. Mandern is a kook and probably a hack, but inconveniences and contrivances power the plot: Less, effectively his prisoner, must both deliver him to his daughter in Arizona to make amends, and answer questions about his own troubled family history as they go. Less’s father, who abandoned his children in their youth, is now dying, and settling family scores turns out to be one of the hero’s quests Less must dispatch along the way. Of these, there are many: When a mission is completed, or the going slows, a deus ex machina, Less’s literary agent, rings up with a new job.

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'Less' offers more in Andrew Sean Greer's follow-up to his Pulitzer-winning novel

Maureen Corrigan

Less is Lost, by Andrew Sean Greer Little, Brown hide caption

Why do we underrate comedy when we need it so badly? When Andrew Sean Greer's novel Less won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 there was a dismissive shrug on the part of some critics. After all, the Pulitzer is usually awarded to a novel that's not as much fun to read as Less was.

A satire of the pretensions of the literary world, Less chronicled the efforts of its hero — the white, gay, American, minor writer, Arthur Less — to outrun his impending 50th birthday and the wedding of his former partner by accepting every invitation to every literary conference, junket, writer's retreat and festival that came his way. Naturally, when news of a sequel to Less was announced, more dismissive shrugging ensued, as though no one remembered acclaimed sequels written by the likes of John Updike , Philip Roth and Hilary Mantel .

Less is Lost picks up with Arthur Less now living with that aforementioned partner, Freddy Pelu, who left his new husband to return to Less. You'd think that demonstration of love would be enough, but Less is a chronically uncertain person, prone to what Freddy, who acts as our occasional narrator, calls a "clumsiness of the heart." The death here of Less' first love, the famous poet Robert Brownburn, only deepens Less's uncertainty, since it turns out that Less owes a decade of back rent on the San Francisco bungalow he's been living in that was owned by Brownburn.

Fortunately, for a writer so minor he's often confused with another minor writer of the same name (even though the other guy is African American), Less has lately been receiving a strangely high number of invitations for lucrative literary gigs — public lectures, glossy writing assignments, and the like. So Less hits the road again — this time in the U.S. Both he and Freddy assume that a separation may clarify their relationship.

Less' first assignment is in Palm Springs, where he'll write a profile of the science fiction writer H.H.H. Mandern, who appeared in the first novel. Here's Greer's skewering description of Mandern:

A bestselling author since his first book, Incubus , came out in 1978 ... H.H. H. Mandern instantly became a towering figure in the world of books, with ... his striped Vincent Price beard ... [and] rock-star behavior such as  ... setting money on fire. ... But nothing stopped his output: a novel, sometimes two a year, and not just any novels but six-hundred-page portraits of interstellar war and alien empire-building that would take a normal human being a year just to type ."

Mandern, always cranky, uses the profile as a bargaining chip to make Less drive him and his pug dog in a decrepit camper van through the Mojave desert for a reunion with his estranged daughter. Thus begins a travelogue through the West and South where, among other misadventures, Less is repeatedly greeted by the proprietors of RV parks with variations on this question, here asked by a lady in Louisiana:

"Now, you're not from around here are you, honey?" ... "No. ..." [answers Less] "See, I thought from how you sounded, you was from the Netherlands.

Less, we're told, "knows what this means. ... and he has never known what to say. Because the question [this woman] is really asking, without at all knowing she is asking it, without meaning anything in the world except that she detects a linguistic flourish, is Are you a homosexual ?"

The question you may well be asking at this point is: Is Less Is Lost as good, as funny, as poignant as its predecessor? To which I would happily answer: Yes, at least!

There are extended comic passages here about Less' Walloon ancestry and a mediocre gay men's chorus singing Leonard Cohen songs that I read aloud, laughing, to anyone I could waylay. But comedy also arises out of pain and Greer smoothly transitions into the profound, such as in this rumination by Less about the empty encounter he has on the trip with his long-lost father:

The moment holds neither disappointment nor delight. Realizing we are no longer in love is not the heartbreaking sensation we imagine when we are in love — because it is no sensation at all. It is a realization made by a bystander.

Greer has said in interviews that this sequel is the end of Less. That would be a shame. Greer should add even more to Less' saga and take him as far as he can go.

Andrew Sean Greer’s Less Is Lost : A Love Letter to a Gentler America—with a Big Finale

The follow-up to the Pulitzer-winning “Less” delights in the absurd and the mundane.

Andrew Sean Greer’s new novel performs an astonishing magic trick: It makes you forget the state of the world—or, more specifically, America.

In Less Is Lost, we return to Arthur Less, “our Minor American Novelist,” and his partner, Freddy Pelu, with whom he’s spent nine months of “unmarital bliss” on top of the nine years they’ve known each other. This is a story, we are told, of a crisis in their lives: how to keep choosing each other when the freshness of love has, if not soured, perhaps staled. In the midst of this crisis, the death of Less’s ex-lover throws the couple into financial distress, forcing Less to accept a series of improbable literary opportunities across the U.S. in order to keep their home.

Writers may take special pleasure in Less Is Lost for the way it holds a mirror to the unique humiliations of their vocation. (At one point Less is asked to “open” for a delayed, famous sci-fi author, whose fans interrupt Less’s attempts to read by chanting the other author’s name.) But with the wit and warmth that made readers fall in love with Less, Greer can find the absurd in everything. A literary prize committee, of which Less is a part, “is never to meet in person; their meetings are incorporeal, like those of angels.” In Dolly, the black pug who accompanies Less for much of his journey, Less recognizes himself—in her passionate effort to shape her towel into a bed each night, she is a fellow artist (“though more successful in her chosen field”).

What made Less such a deep joy to read was the voice—a playful almost-omniscience that occasionally shifted to reveal a mysterious first-person who looked upon Less with unmistakable fondness. That narrative voice resumes seamlessly in Less Is Lost , with Freddy introducing himself early, then weaving in and out of the story: “Now it is my turn to be uncertain . What other infelicities has Less hidden, forgotten, mislaid? What future is there with such a man?”

Though Freddy himself is physically absent for most of the novel, his voice is what gives the book its life, and his central dilemma is the lens through which the story is told. At times he invites us into Less’s consciousness (begging the question of how much of the story is faithfully reported—by Less to Freddy and by Freddy to us—and how much is imagined, reconstructed…and whether it matters). Other times, the narration pulls back: “How long can a gay man survive in the desert? We are about to find out, for, from our buzzard’s-eye view of California, we see an old conversation van painted a pristine shade of green tottering through the night through the Mojave Desert.” And still other times it shifts to second-person, with direct addresses to either the reader or to Less: “Sleep well, my love. More than a continent lies between us tonight.”

Off-screen, Freddy is nursing his hurt at Less’s description of their relationship— uncertain . When he addresses Less in the narration, there is both a hopeful blurring of boundaries between them and a reminder of our separateness from those we love. Less can no more hear Freddy’s commentary than someone in a horror move can hear the viewer shouting, “Look behind you!” Yet the very act of constructing this story can only be an act of love: “that magical spot where the rivers meet, a tessellated surface not unlike a backgammon board where the clear and muddy waters coexist but refuse to mix.”

Less Is Lost is a love story, but it’s also about how we make art—which is to say, how we make meaning: of ourselves, each other, our lives. At his ex-lover’s funeral, Less encounters a Czech editor who praises the poet’s “Beckett sensibility. That things are broken, in shards, that being human means nothing , that memory is nothing , that love is nothing. ” Less tells the editor he’s got it all wrong. And indeed, the novel feels like an indictment against this very sensibility.

Less’s road trip is characterized by moments of deep human connection, subversion of stereotypes, and jaw-dropping natural descriptions. (Joshua trees are “Holy rollers at a revival, lifting their heavy arms. How long has this been going on? For all time? Why did no one tell him?”) In the South, where Freddy warns Less they “kill queers” and “being white might not be enough,” Less dons a handlebar mustache and affixes half a dozen American flags to his conversion van. But Less encounters only kindness, which won’t feel realistic to every reader. Then again, our narrator notes, “Well, my darling, the world is so constructed that men like you will always end up safe in bed. Almost always.”

“Pay attention,” Less’s ex-lover instructed Less when his mother died. “You have to write it down. You have to use it later.” Less is enraged at the idea of using his mother’s death as a writing exercise, but he is reminded, “It’s not for yourself. It’s for someone seven hundred years from now.”

Greer pays attention. And if it’s painful for him, as it is for Less, he also transmutes it into something that may survive the next 700 years: “the restorative tonic of a funny tale.” In times like these, that feels like a gift.

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Review: 'Less Is Lost,' by Andrew Sean Greer

Fiction: andrew sean greer's accomplished sequel to "less" maps a cross-country odyssey filled with hijinks..

By Hamilton Cain

Special to the Star Tribune

While scarcely an original observation, actor Sir Michael Caine still nailed it in 2017 when he said, "Comedy is harder to do than drama. You can make anyone burst into tears, but trying to get a laugh is murder." I recalled this truism as I read Andrew Sean Greer's technically accomplished, wildly entertaining "Less Is Lost , " the sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "Less." Like its predecessor, the new novel is a feat of wit and brio, tougher than it looks.

In "Less" the middle-aged protagonist stared down his demons — and his former boyfriend's impending nuptials — by exiting east, New York to Europe to Africa to Japan, accepting invitations to conferences, literary retreats and a lucrative magazine profile.

"Less Is Lost" picks up just months later. After the taxing death of his friend and first lover, an elderly poet, Arthur faces a mountain of debt. He could lose his homey San Francisco apartment. He reverts to a familiar strategy: he'll canvass the nation for paychecks in a camper named Rosina, accompanied by a pug, Dolly, only now within "this foreign world, his own country."

Arthur treks across three time zones to a Maine rendezvous with his partner, Freddy Pelu, an academic (who'd called off his wedding). From his New England perch, Freddy narrates hilarious, cinematic scenes that include affectionate if campy portraits of Arthur: "Look at his thinning hair wind-whipped into the stiff peak of a blond meringue, his delicate lips, sharpened nose, and elongated chin recalling Viking invaders of the Bayeux Tapestry, as white as a white man can get."

Greer's a master of the picaresque, deftly moving his protagonist from a seedy, David Lynch-esque desert bar through the flatlands of Texas to a Southern theater troupe. In his native Delaware, Less' sister awaits him, possibly with the father who abandoned them both, and, farther north, his partner. But will Freddy embrace Less?

Greer's wordplay is glorious: He drop-shots puns and ripostes, firing up his prose. (One bit of dialogue pays homage to the iconic Abbott and Costello routine, "Who's on First?") Less speaks German, perhaps not as fluently as he believes; Greer translates a laugh-out-loud encounter with German tourists at a hot springs in Arizona.

Is "Less Is Lost," then, greater than, lesser than, or equal to "Less?" Is more of Less less or more? The jokes write themselves, which may be a problem here: Greer is not only winking at the reader, he's winking at himself. Although an agile stylist, he's captivated by the cadences of his own voice, the web of Less' relationships, and an unpersuasive reckoning.

The author's gifts are manifold, though, and "Less Is Lost" finds its path, holding tight to a Kerouac-like exuberance even as Less falls short of the enlightenment he seeks. And despite the novel's self-conscious moments, Greer bears down on his character's quest with a command of craft second to none. Will love conquer all? As Freddy notes, "Well, reader, I will simply let you guess."

A contributing books editor for Oprah Daily, Hamilton Cain reviews for the Star Tribune, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. He lives in Brooklyn.

Less Is Lost

By: Andrew Sean Greer.

Publisher: Little, Brown, 272 pages, $29.

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Less Is Lost

By Andrew Sean Greer Little, Brown: 272 pages, $29 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

Andrew Sean Greer surprised a lot of observers when he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his 2017 novel, “Less.” Comic novels generally don’t do well on the major awards circuit. (Ask Gary Shteyngart or Nell Zink , Sam Lipsyte and so on.) But “Less” was exceedingly well made, a witty tale about Arthur Less, a middle-age, insecure, weak-selling gay literary novelist who hits the eject button on his life after a breakup to take a whirlwind trip around the world. Coincidentally, among the targets of Greer’s gentle ribbing was the Pulitzer Prize itself. “You win a prize, and it’s all over,” a poet tells Arthur. “You lecture for the rest of your life. But you never write again.”

The punch line there was that Arthur desperately wanted to win one of those prizes anyway. And it’s a pretty good punch line now, because Greer not only won the Pulitzer but has in fact written again. “ Less Is Lost ” is a familiar-feeling sequel to its predecessor, which seems to bode ill for its prospects. But if Greer is just reapplying the “Less” formula — insecure, weak-selling, whirlwind trip, etc. — it’s one that allows for plenty of invention and flexibility. Take an uncertain man, a “middle-aged gay white novelist nobody’s ever heard of,” and put him in a host of places he’s uncomfortable in, especially when he’s uncomfortable everywhere, and some amount of hilarity is bound to ensue. Early on we are promised “a donkey, a pug, a whale, and a moose.” In due time the full menagerie arrives.

This time, Less’ travels are restricted to the United States, with Arthur making a mad cross-country dash as privation chases his heels. After the death of his former longtime lover Robert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Arthur learns that probate court is dunning him for years of back rent in Robert’s San Francisco home. So he’s compelled to take gigs that are respectable but a tick diminishing for a would-be famous author: judging a literary prize; writing a magazine profile in the Southwest; supervising a musical version of one of his stories in the Southeast; taking a speaking tour up the Atlantic coast.

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An identity crisis and deadline pressure will make a writer do funny things, and soon Arthur is roped into an RV trip with a George R.R. Martin -esque writer who’s searching for his daughter. In the process, Arthur unwittingly takes a hallucinogen, plays a lead role in a water-based catastrophe and once again deploys his painfully mediocre German, one of the best items in Greer’s joke bag. Confronted with a group of German nudists, Arthur becomes flustered. “Also shy I am!” he offers lamely. Told they’re talking about breakups, his phrase-book German can’t match the subject he knows best. “Here is a sad conversation,” he tries.

Sad conversation he has, often. Shy he is — entertainingly so. But the truly remarkable thing about “Less” winning the Pulitzer isn’t that it’s a comedy; it is that, at heart, it’s a romance, a genre that faces an even rougher road with prize juries. All the globetrotting in “Less” set a path toward a happily ever after. A similar story is at play in “Less Is Lost,” as Arthur wends his way from San Francisco to Maine, where his beloved, Freddy, is teaching. The RV he drives is nicknamed Rosina, a name that echoes Rocinante, the steed Don Quixote rode in search of his Dulcinea.

The sequel is also thick with matters of love, family and home — when it takes a break from its various face-plants, misunderstandings and yes, that moose. Arthur is striving to reconnect not just with Freddy but also with his long-absent father. In that context, every gag, misstep and line of clumsy German serves the themes of loss and recovery, from the sweater in Arthur’s luggage that’s torn to bits by an electric razor to America itself. “America, how’s your marriage ?” Greer writes. “Your two-hundred-fifty-year-old promise to stay together in sickness and in health? ... Who betrayed whom, in the end? I hear you tried getting sober. That didn’t last, did it?”

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Amid all this, Arthur struggles with the question of what makes him lovable — and if not his writing, then what is it? (A late plot twist in the novel cleverly complicates this question.) That sense of self can be hard on people surrounding a writer, as Freddy — the novel’s actual narrator — points out. “There may be writers whose imaginations are so fertile, they merely plant the seeds and water them regularly, and a novel blooms every year or so — and lucky are those authors’ partners. But all the other writers, it seems, must provide their own manure.”

To extend the metaphor, Arthur generates a lot of muck. What makes his novels funny is Greer’s understanding of how absurdly writers will contort their psyches to feel like they count, like they’re loved. (That’s why it’s better that Less himself isn’t the narrator; it would read as crushingly heartsick, if not a tick mad.) These contortions are also what make the books poignant. The tricky part is balancing the two modes via tone, style and plot. Greer’s task is to ground the absurdity in tenderheartedness without being cute or cloying. In that regard, he masters both — the embarrassing moment but also the gentle grace note — as when he captures the bereft mood of a wake: “Through the window, piano music steals in softly and, finding nothing worth taking, steals back out again and goes silent.”

Early on, Arthur is told by his former lover, the Pulitzer-winning poet, a kind of secret for success, both as a writer and as a person: “Pay attention. ... That’s all you need to do. Pay attention.” The punch line there is that the world is so full of distractions that Arthur misses the opportunity to do that, or finds himself paying attention to the wrong things. That leads to the moments of misdirection that are the lifeblood of funny novels. But trying to pay attention is touching too: Like writing a novel or finding a happy place to call home, it’s hard, worthy work.

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Book summary and reviews of Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

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Less Is Lost

Arthur Less Book #2

by Andrew Sean Greer

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• Genre: Literary Fiction
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Book summary.

In the follow-up to the "bedazzling, bewitching, and be-wonderful" ( New York Times ​) bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning Less: A Novel , the awkward and lovable Arthur Less returns in an unforgettable road trip across America.

"Go get lost somewhere, it always does you good." For Arthur Less, life is going surprisingly well: he is a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with his partner, Freddy Pelu. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a zigzagging adventure across the US. Less roves across the "Mild Mild West," through the South and to his mid-Atlantic birthplace, with an ever-changing posse of writerly characters and his trusty duo – a human-like black pug, Dolly, and a rusty camper van nicknamed Rosina. He grows a handlebar mustache, ditches his signature gray suit, and disguises himself in the bolero-and-cowboy-hat costume of a true "Unitedstatesian"... with varying levels of success, as he continues to be mistaken for either a Dutchman, the wrong writer, or, worst of all, a "bad gay." We cannot, however, escape ourselves—even across deserts, bayous, and coastlines. From his estranged father and strained relationship with Freddy, to the reckoning he experiences in confronting his privilege, Arthur Less must eventually face his personal demons. With all of the irrepressible wit and musicality that made Less a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning, must-read breakout book, Less Is Lost is a profound and joyous novel about the enigma of life in America, the riddle of love, and the stories we tell along the way.

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Reader reviews.

"Greer follows up his Pulitzer-winning Less with another delightful road story featuring middle-aged writer Arthur Less...Though a bit overboard at times, Greer packs in plenty of humor and some nicely poignant moments. Fans will eat this up." - Publishers Weekly "Greer does sometimes write beautifully about life and about fiction...If you loved the first one, you might love this, though it is a bit less fresh and a tad slow." - Kirkus Reviews "Andrew Sean Greer's new novel performs an astonishing magic trick: It makes you forget the state of the world—or, more specifically, America... Less Is Lost is a love story, but it's also about how we make art—which is to say, how we make meaning: of ourselves, each other, our lives. Greer pays attention. And if it's painful for him, as it is for Less, he also transmutes it into something that may survive the next 700 years: 'the restorative tonic of a funny tale.' In times like these, that feels like a gift." - Oprah Daily "The ending of Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Less , did not demand a sequel—it ended so perfectly—but lucky us, we're getting one anyway. Beloved Arthur Less, once again fleeing his problems, accepts invitations to a bunch of literary events and heads out on the road. This time, he's traveling throughout the United States. As he proved with Less , Greer excels at pinpointing the funniest parts of the writerly life, and we expect him to return to this winning comic realm." - BookPage "Technically accomplished, wildly entertaining...Like its predecessor, [ Less Is Lost ] is a feat of wit and brio, tougher than it looks...Greer's a master of the picaresque...Greer's wordplay is glorious." - Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Only Arthur Less could be both frustratingly stuck, yet on the move. Let loose, yet totally lost. Full of wit, but without a clue. And while he runs from himself, finds himself at the same time. Put all of that on a wild road trip through a wilder America, and you end up with something hilarious, affecting, and unforgettable." - Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize "Excited to be reunited with our neurotic hero Arthur Less, I ripped through this sequel. It was a thrill to go on this odyssey with Less where even the most picayune comic encounters turn profound. Vulnerable and witty, Less Is Lost is a joy." - Cathy Park Hong, bestselling author of Minor Feelings

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Andrew Sean Greer Author Biography

Andrew Sean Greer is the bestselling author of five works of fiction, including The Confessions of Max Tivoli , which was named a best book of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O Henry Award for short fiction and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in San Francisco. He has traveled to all of the locations in his novel, Less , but he is only big in Italy.

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How “Less Is Lost” Finds Its Footing

Pity the plight of the gay white man. Not as notorious as his heterosexual counterpart, more socially privileged than his queer peers, he has been drained of popular sympathy by virtue of his cultural success. Take the recent film “Fire Island,” Joel Kim Booster’s adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”: while the Bennet sisters are transformed into a gaggle of gay friends of color (mostly), the role of the villainous Mr. Wickham is given to Dex, a white seducer who deploys his Tom of Finland physique and sterling Instagram politics to prey upon his dazzled prospects. But a gay white guy as a marginalized hero, an underdog whose private tragedies we mourn? That’s a harder sell.

Or so Arthur Less, the protagonist of “ Less ,” Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer-winning 2017 novel, is forced to conclude. Less, like Greer, is a middle-aged gay white novelist; his latest manuscript, “Swift,” is a sombre tale of—what else?—a middle-aged gay white man who wanders around San Francisco à la Leopold Bloom in Dublin, suffering various setbacks and contemplating his regrets. Less is shocked when his publisher rejects it outright. “It’s a little hard to feel sorry for a guy like that,” a lesbian friend explains. The book, as even Less comes to see, has been artistically petrified by his character’s self-pity, that “gorgon of Caucasian male ego.” It’s as good as dead.

Then Less has an idea. What if he rewrote his tragedy as a farce? Inspiration flows: “With a joy bordering on sadism, he degloves every humiliation to show its risible lining.” Laughter suddenly replaces sighs and tears, and a holy fool steps in for a puffed-up hero.

Less’s strategy is also the strategy of “Less.” The novel maintains a delicious comic buoyancy as it follows the antics of its Buster Keatonish protagonist , buffeting him with one obstacle after another only to have him land, each time, on his feet. Dramatic irony usually casts readers as Cassandras: we watch with dread as unsuspecting characters meet with disaster. But what makes Less so endearing is his sincere ignorance of his good luck. Though Less himself is writing a “gay ‘Ulysses,’ ” the scope of his own journeys is more Homeric than Joycean; he leaves his home in San Francisco to travel to Mexico, then Italy, Germany, France, Morocco, India, and Japan, funding his exploits with teaching gigs, magazine assignments, and the like. The cause of all this wandering is Less’s desire to escape the impending wedding of his former lover Freddy Pelu, an English teacher some fifteen years his junior, whom Less, whether in the spirit of unpossessive generosity (as he wants to believe) or for fear of rejection (the truth), unwisely let get away. But Freddy is closer at hand than Less suspects: he’s the book’s affectionate, rueful narrator. How can he know what Less is doing, never mind thinking and feeling, from the other side of the world? He can’t, of course, and that imaginative leap is part of the book’s charm, the key to its romantic optimism. Telling Less’s story is Freddy’s way of keeping watch over him. You cheer for the couple’s reunion, though hapless Less proves such an enjoyable travelling companion that it’s bittersweet to bid him goodbye as he returns to California to find Freddy waiting for him with open arms.

Apparently, Greer felt the same way, because he has brought Less back, in “ Less Is Lost ” (Little, Brown), a sequel that picks up the plot nine months later. Freddy has moved into Less’s little house, called the Shack, and wants to get married. Less isn’t so sure. “This is the story of a crisis in our lives,” Freddy, enlisted again as the omniscient narrator, reports. Another one, so soon?

As the novel begins, it is Freddy who is far from home, on a sabbatical in Maine to study “narrative form.” On the verge of flying east to join him, Less learns that his first great love, the renowned poet Robert Brownburn, has died. The two men met on a San Francisco beach when Less was a svelte twenty-one and Robert was more than two decades older and married (to a woman—this was 1987). In fact, it is Robert’s ex-wife, Marian, who gives Less the bad news. And there’s more. The Shack belonged to Robert; when Robert left Less, after fifteen years together, he left him the house, too. Now Marian tells Less that he owes ten years of back rent. If he doesn’t come up with the money in a month, he and Freddy are out.

Less assures Freddy that he has a plan. He’s been asked to write a magazine profile of a best-selling science-fiction writer, H. H. H. Mandern, and is serving on the committee for a fancy literary prize, which entails some kind of honorarium. Also, a Louisiana-based drama troupe is offering Less an improbably fat sum to adapt one of his short stories for the stage and has invited him to tag along on its tour. Freddy manages to douse his skepticism in the name of love, but this reader had a harder time. San Francisco is among the most expensive rental markets in the country; the man needs a MacArthur grant, not a magazine assignment. In any case, the money is merely a pretext for Greer to send Less on another roving adventure, this one across the continental United States, beginning in Palm Springs, where he meets up with the gruff, shambolic Mandern—a George R. R. Martin type who enlists Less to chauffeur him and his pug across the Southwest in an old camper van—and ending in Delaware, Less’s home state. The novel advances by way of a series of road-trip encounters with characters who are mostly also “characters,” like Arathusa, who leads an off-the-grid Arizona commune and whose personal motto is “Know no no ,” and Miss Dorothy Howe-Gorbaty, the head of the theatre troupe, a steel magnolia with a penchant for dancing the Carolina shag. Less, who gets custody of the van, and the dog, after Mandern makes his exit, spends a great deal of time in R.V. parks—where he nervously tries to camouflage his sexuality by purchasing “a red bandanna, wraparound sunglasses, a HOOT ’N’ HOLLER T-shirt, flip-flops, a baseball cap, a cowboy hat, a bolo tie, and six miniature American flags”—and in beer bars, including one in Alabama where a patron surprises him by asking, “thoughtfully,” what it’s like to be gay. So much for disguises.

Homophobia isn’t a serious risk in the benign world of the “Less” books. The real threat comes in the form of the accusation—lobbed, inevitably, by a fellow middle-aged white gay male writer—that Less is a “bad gay,” too conciliatory to hetero sensibilities in his prose. The charge stings because Less fears that it may be true, and not just on the page. “When he moved to New York after college, in the eighties,” Freddy tells us, “Arthur Less certainly tried his hardest to be gay”:

He joined a gym that turned out to be a sex dungeon. He joined a political party that turned out to believe a conspiracy theory about government health clinics. He joined a German-language society that turned out to be a sex dungeon. He joined a book group that turned out to be only for a political party. He joined a role-playing game club that turned out to be a sex dungeon. He joined a sex dungeon that turned out to be a government health clinic. It was all so confusing.

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This deadpan passage is typical of Greer’s best comic writing, with its exquisite attention to rhythm, repetition, and timing, the bright sentences tossed up like juggling balls to be caught in dazzling rotation.

Sexuality is one kind of performance. Nationality is another. Less’s countrymen often mistake him for a foreigner, a fair confusion when it comes to a member of that dreaded coastal caste, the publishing world, “which, like an orbiting space station, looks upon the rest of America without ever interacting with it.” To a globe-trotting “Minor American Novelist,” nowhere could be more exotic than America itself. Greer, a resident of San Francisco and Milan—the one in Italy, not to be confused with those in Georgia, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico, or New York—is gamely implicating himself. His acknowledgments include a note of thanks to the Guggenheim Foundation “for the grant that allowed for all the RV rentals.” He, too, has charted a course across the country’s great middle, and his findings, or Less’s, are often lovely. “You would think nothing would be as well oiled as the derricks pumping along the Mississippi River. And yet they squeak all night,” one perfect postcard of a paragraph reads.

Where Greer runs into trouble is in his attempt to use Less’s trip to gesture at the state of the Union writ large, an ambition that he signals early. At a gathering following Robert’s funeral, a smug Czech editor accuses Less of provincialism. Has he seen anything of his country beyond “New York, Boston, San Francisco?” And, speaking of his country, has he ever so much as wondered “if it’s wrong? The whole idea?” Less must admit that “the notion has never occurred to him.” Critiquing the American experiment has become something of a trope in the current political climate, but, though Greer’s novel is set in the approximate present, his America is a land curiously devoid of politics. Less manages to drive three thousand miles without coming across so much as a single MAGA hat; there seems to have been no major public-health crisis since AIDS .

“The American berserk,” as Philip Roth called the nation’s general resting state, has never been berserker. Other American satirists—Paul Beatty comes immediately to mind—have sparked to the country’s extremity. Greer, though, has a gentler sensibility. He wants to see the best in people, and that rare instinct puts him in a bind. How to confront the madness, let alone the viciousness, the violence, the cruelty, of the moment while maintaining the kind of comic equipoise that he prizes?

One answer is to spike the humor with harsher stuff. Freddy, so genially tolerant of his lover’s foibles in “Less,” takes on an edge in “Less Is Lost.” A self-described “pasticcio” of “Italian, Spanish, and Mexican heritages,” he is now dealt the thankless task of chiding Less for his white-male myopia. When Less is left stupefied after unknowingly sampling some hallucinogenic blueberries foisted on him by a trio of German tourists, Freddy reflects, “The world is so constructed that men like you will always end up safe. Almost always.” A few pages later, when Less finds himself riding a donkey down a ravine on Navajo land: “I hope Arthur Less realizes he knows nothing, nothing at all, about the people who once lived here, or those who live here now.” These appliqué indictments have the awkward feel of authorial preëmption; it’s as if Greer felt the need to make a show of taking his character to task for being categorically “problematic.” Perhaps to compensate, he saddles Less with emotional baggage (a dead mother, a long-absent father) that hints at painful depths without really creating them. These are “Swift”-ian touches, and they work no better in Greer’s novel than they evidently did in Less’s.

Freddy, though, isn’t just exasperated by Less. He’s jealous, too, of Less’s youthful love for Robert, and worries that he’ll never be able to take his predecessor’s place. That rawer, truer vein of feeling gives the novel back its heart. If “Less Is Lost” is, well, a lesser work than “Less,” there’s something sincerely winning in Greer’s undogmatic brand of small-c conservatism. Like Freddy, Greer is a believer: in love and, even more old-fashioned, in marriage. That ancient, flawed, astoundingly persistent institution gives Greer his strongest metaphor for the country’s predicament:

America, how’s your marriage? Your two-hundred-fifty-year-old promise to stay together in sickness and in health? First thirteen states, then more and more, until fifty of you had taken the vow. Like so many marriages, I know, it was not for love; I know it was for tax reasons, but soon you all found yourself financially entwined, with shared debts and land purchases and grandiose visions of the future, yet somehow, from the beginning, essentially at odds. Ancient grudges. That split you had—that still stings, doesn’t it? Who betrayed whom, in the end? I hear you tried getting sober. That didn’t last, did it?

What you’re hearing, mixed in with the humor, is melancholy. “If it can’t work for you, can it work for any of us?” Freddy asks. He’s looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Traditional comedy culminates in a wedding, traditional tragedy in death. We can’t presume to know how the American story, that insane and unprecedented jumble of genres, will end, but Less and Freddy’s story is another matter. No one’s private world is shielded from national storms, but often enough the sun does shine there. We need some novels to remind us of that, and this is one. ♦

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Swearing, rants, reviews, on every level, book review – less is lost by andrew sean greer.

I absolutely fell in love with Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel Less . I constantly recommend it to friends and suggest it every month in my book club. I just believed that everyone should and would enjoy reading it. Okay, not everyone but a lot of people. It’s also my main piece of evidence to throw into the ring every time somebody says “Literary Fiction is just depressing and dark”. Less was anything but dark. It is the opposite of dark and I’ve been obsessed with ever since. So I was genuinely delighted that there was a sequel coming. I wanted to spend more time with Arthur Less and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it in 2022 when it was released. Instead, I figured I would start the year off on a positive note and make it my first book of 2023. Would it be as good as the first book? Or would it be a tricky second album?

 Andrew Sean Greer’s prize-winning novel  Less  was so charming and enjoyable to read that it felt unfair to the other books. It’s the kind of book that I haven’t been able to get out of my head and will never stop recommending to people. Things that all meant that I was both very excited about the sequel and worried that it wouldn’t be able to live up to my expectations. However, my love for the character Arthur Less was so strong that I knew I had to read it. What has been happening to the author and his partner Freddy since we last saw them?

Life is seemingly pretty blissful for the pair as they live contentedly in their shared home, the “Shack”. That is until Arthur’s ex-boyfriend, Robert, dies and Less suddenly owes an awful lot in back rent. As Freddy is away for work, Arthur takes on the burden of this debt and agrees to several work opportunities. Just like in the first book, he finds himself on a journey that offers financial gain but, unexpectedly, also provides emotional gains. Instead of travelling the world, we are now driving across America in an RV with a revolving supporting cast that includes a famous science-fiction writer and his pug. Can Arthur make the money in time? What will his absence mean for his relationship with Freddy?

On the surface,  Less is Lost  is just a continuation of the previous novel. It has a very similar vibe and the story is fairly similar. Something that I really didn’t mind because of how good the first one was. However, the second book also introduces us to several different and important topics. We learn more about Arthur’s childhood and his relationship with his family. Throughout his journey, Less finds himself sticking out because of his sexuality and we see the discomfort he feels surrounding his own identity. A return to his hometown summons up memories of school bullies and name-calling. It’s nice to see that same the anxiety-ridden writer is still alive and well despite finding happiness at the end of the previous book.

Less is Lost  is another absolute triumph and a joy to read. It is a constantly funny and bizarre odyssey narrated by Freddy himself. There are so many unforgettable situations and characters to meet along the way. It’s also nice to see so many familiar faces from the first book. Greer so easily captures the changing landscape of Less’ journey and brings a delicacy to cut through his wit. Alongside the comedy, this is an incredibly poignant book. There are plenty of emotional scenes and moments of self-discovery. The book also attempts to explore post-Trump America and the tension that exists everywhere. Although I have to say, this side of it is quickly pushed to one side in favour of more romantic themes.

There will be plenty of people who don’t agree that this is as good as the first one. There will be others who don’t believe that the sequel was necessary. I kind of see both of these points but I can’t agree with them. When a book is this lovely to read, I’m all for it. Sometimes, things should just be able to exist for the sake of existing.  Less is More  reminds me so much of the first book and I had such a great time reading it. If this is an indication of how good my 2023 books will be then this is going to be a great year. 

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Less Is Lost Audio CD – Unabridged, September 20, 2022

• Language English
• Publisher Little, Brown & Company
• Publication date September 20, 2022
• Dimensions 5.2 x 0.9 x 5.75 inches
• ISBN-10 1549112058
• ISBN-13 978-1549112058
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown & Company; Unabridged edition (September 20, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1549112058
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1549112058
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.2 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.9 x 5.75 inches
• #2,931 in LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction (Books)
• #27,953 in Humorous Fiction
• #28,281 in Books on CD

About the author

Andrew sean greer.

Andrew Sean Greer is the bestselling author of seven works of fiction, including The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named a best book of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O Henry award for short fiction and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. His novel Less won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it's follow-up, Less Is Lost, is out Sept 2022. Greer lives in San Francisco and Milan.

Customer reviews

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Customers say

Customers find the reading experience entertaining, lyrical, astute, and beautiful. They also describe the emotional storyline as heart wrenching and sweet. Readers praise the characters as great and witty. However, some find the story tedious and silly.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book entertaining, humorous, and delightful. They also appreciate the clever word play and lyrical prose.

"...that enable Greer’s marvelous storytelling to offer an ingenious blend of tragedy and comedy ...." Read more

"...This has a lot of similarities to the original. Yet, it is entertaining , fun and well written. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️" Read more

"A goofy heartwarming adventure about familial disappointment, self disillusionment, and foremost - love. Well written and well worth it. Great fun!" Read more

"...It was a marvel of beautiful, subtle writing. Funny and heart wrenching. Then I saw the 2nd book was published and I felt a chill of foreboding...." Read more

Customers find the writing style amazing, lyrical, astute, strong, beautiful, and fluent. They also say the window into the human heart is clear, tender, and heartbreaking. Customers also say that the story seems good and the writing is surprising.

"...Greer is also a magician of his craft—giving us breathtaking prose replete with superb images and musings that only a writer at the pinnacle of his..." Read more

"...Yet, it is entertaining, fun and well written . ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️" Read more

"... Well written and well worth it. Great fun!" Read more

"I bought this for when I travel. The story seemed good but the way it is written, the narrator, or the author, sounds like someone outside the story..." Read more

Customers find the storyline funny, heart wrenching, and touching.

"...It was a marvel of beautiful, subtle writing. Funny and heart wrenching . Then I saw the 2nd book was published and I felt a chill of foreboding...." Read more

"...in the final few pages, however, combined with the serendipitously romantic ending , gave Less Is Lost another star and a half." Read more

"...I’m crying happy tears now, such a touching ending ." Read more

"...Funny and poignant story of middle age white, gay privilege, which I have somehow managed to stumble through myself." Read more

Customers find the book funny, sweet, and interesting. They also say Freddy is lovely.

"...Like the first book, this sequel is funny and sweet ." Read more

"I am giving this book 3.5 stars. It was a cute and entertaining little adventure story /love story. Nice quick read." Read more

"This is the funniest, sweetest and most interesting book as Less takes some unexpected detours on his quest to earn enough money to pay the back..." Read more

"...bit as beautiful as the first book, just as original and strange and sweet . I could follow Less around forever...." Read more

Customers find the characters in the book great, funny, and witty.

"Don’t expect a point to point b plot. Do enjoy quirky characters and strange adventures ! I enjoyed the read. ." Read more

"...prose, heart-rending, gasp-inducing observations of aging, two characters to love and many to savor...." Read more

"Light, funny, great characters , really well written. So witty! So glad I read it. You should as well - you will be glad you did." Read more

"Absolutely spell-binding! Read it in a single day— characters are beautifully drawn . I found it more engaging than the first “Less” book." Read more

Customers find the book easy to read, enjoyable, and light. They also say the characters are great and the writing is well written.

"...It was a cute and entertaining little adventure story /love story. Nice quick read ." Read more

"...I recommend it for anyone looking for a relatively light read to lift their spirits ." Read more

" Light , funny, great characters, really well written. So witty! So glad I read it. You should as well - you will be glad you did." Read more

"...The sequel to the first book which was an easy enjoyable read ...." Read more

Customers find the book tedious and disorienting.

"...Sort of written in a third person, detached. It's disorienting and I quickly lost interest in the story itself." Read more

"...But it seems like we have no real story to write about , and that's a shame." Read more

"...It wasn’t nearly as funny to me and the story gets tedious . Less’ partner narrating is part of that...." Read more

"... Got too bogged down in too many places ." Read more

Customers find the humor silly and annoying in its arbitrariness.

"Funny at times but not as clever or amusing as first book. Got too bogged down in too many places." Read more

"...It’s simple nonsense, ridiculous and a waste of time. I can’t even understand how the author even made a story to write about." Read more

"...But I didn’t finish it. I found it silly and not worth my time, with so many good books to read. I donated it to the library." Read more

"...The boyfriend narrator just doesn’t work, and the humor falls flat ." Read more

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Awards & Accolades

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Google Rating

Pulitzer Prize Winner

by Andrew Sean Greer ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 18, 2017

Seasoned novelist Greer (The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, 2013, etc.) clearly knows whereof he speaks and has lived to...

Facing his erstwhile boyfriend’s wedding to another man, his 50th birthday, and his publisher’s rejection of his latest manuscript, a miserable midlist novelist heads for the airport.

When it comes to the literary canon, Arthur Less knows he is “as superfluous as the extra a in quaalude,” but he does get the odd invitation—to interview a more successful author, to receive an obscure prize, to tour French provincial libraries, that sort of thing. So rather than stay in San Francisco and be humiliated when his younger man of nine years' standing marries someone else (he can’t bear to attend, nor can he bear to stay home), he puts together a patchwork busman’s holiday that will take him to Paris, Morocco, Berlin, Southern India, and Japan. Of course, anything that can go wrong does—from falling out a window to having his favorite suit eaten by a stray dog, and as far as Less runs, he will not escape the fact that he really did lose the love of his life. Meanwhile, there’s no way to stop that dreaded birthday, which he sees as the definitive end of a rather extended youth: “It’s like the last day in a foreign country. You finally figure out where to get coffee, and drinks, and a good steak. And then you have to leave. And you won’t ever be back.” Yet even this conversation occurs in the midst of a make-out session with a handsome Spanish stranger on a balcony at a party in Paris…hinting that there may be steaks and coffee on the other side. Upping the tension of this literary picaresque is the fact that the story is told by a mysterious narrator whose identity and role in Less’ future is not revealed until the final pages.

Pub Date: July 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-316-31612-5

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Lee Boudreaux/Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

LITERARY FICTION

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SEEN & HEARD

NEVER LET ME GO

by Kazuo Ishiguro ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2005

A masterpiece of craftsmanship that offers an unparalleled emotional experience. Send a copy to the Swedish Academy.

An ambitious scientific experiment wreaks horrendous toll in the Booker-winning British author’s disturbingly eloquent sixth novel (after When We Were Orphans , 2000).

Ishiguro’s narrator, identified only as Kath(y) H., speaks to us as a 31-year-old social worker of sorts, who’s completing her tenure as a “carer,” prior to becoming herself one of the “donors” whom she visits at various “recovery centers.” The setting is “England, late 1990s”—more than two decades after Kath was raised at a rural private school (Hailsham) whose students, all children of unspecified parentage, were sheltered, encouraged to develop their intellectual and especially artistic capabilities, and groomed to become donors. Visions of Brave New World and 1984 arise as Kath recalls in gradually and increasingly harrowing detail her friendships with fellow students Ruth and Tommy (the latter a sweet, though distractible boy prone to irrational temper tantrums), their “graduation” from Hailsham and years of comparative independence at a remote halfway house (the Cottages), the painful outcome of Ruth’s breakup with Tommy (whom Kath also loves), and the discovery the adult Kath and Tommy make when (while seeking a “deferral” from carer or donor status) they seek out Hailsham’s chastened “guardians” and receive confirmation of the limits long since placed on them. With perfect pacing and infinite subtlety, Ishiguro reveals exactly as much as we need to know about how efforts to regulate the future through genetic engineering create, control, then emotionlessly destroy very real, very human lives—without ever showing us the faces of the culpable, who have “tried to convince themselves. . . . That you were less than human, so it didn’t matter.” That this stunningly brilliant fiction echoes Caryl Churchill’s superb play A Number and Margaret Atwood’s celebrated dystopian novels in no way diminishes its originality and power.

Pub Date: April 11, 2005

ISBN: 1-4000-4339-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005

More by Kazuo Ishiguro

by Kazuo Ishiguro ; illustrated by Bianca Bagnarelli

by Kazuo Ishiguro

BOOK TO SCREEN

ABSOLUTE POWER

by David Baldacci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 1996

The mother of all presidential cover-ups is the centerpiece gimmick in this far-fetched thriller from first-novelist Baldacci, a Washington-based attorney. In the dead of night, while burgling an exurban Virginia mansion, career criminal Luther Whitney is forced to conceal himself in a walk-in closet when Christine Sullivan, the lady of the house, arrives in the bedroom he's ransacking with none other than Alan Richmond, President of the US. Through the one-way mirror, Luther watches the drunken couple engage in a bout of rough sex that gets out of hand, ending only when two Secret Service men respond to the Chief Executive's cries of distress and gun down the letter-opener-wielding Christy. Gloria Russell, Richmond's vaultingly ambitious chief of staff, orders the scene rigged to look like a break-in and departs with the still befuddled President, leaving Christy's corpse to be discovered at another time. Luther makes tracks as well, though not before being spotted on the run by agents from the bodyguard detail. Aware that he's shortened his life expectancy, Luther retains trusted friend Jack Graham, a former public defender, but doesn't tell him the whole story. When Luther's slain before he can be arraigned for Christy's murder, Jack concludes he's the designated fall guy in a major scandal. Meanwhile, little Gloria (together with two Secret Service shooters) hopes to erase all tracks that might lead to the White House. But the late Luther seems to have outsmarted her in advance with recurrent demands for hush money. The body count rises as Gloria's attack dogs and Jack search for the evidence cunning Luther's left to incriminate not only a venal Alan Richmond but his homicidal deputies. The not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper climax provides an unsurprising answer to the question of whether a US president can get away with murder. For all its arresting premise, an overblown and tedious tale of capital sins. (Film rights to Castle Rock; Book-of-the-Month selection)

Pub Date: Jan. 18, 1996

ISBN: 0-446-51996-0

Page Count: 480

Publisher: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

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Paradises Lost

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt Steven Rendall (Translator) Addie Leak (Translator) Europa Editions ( Oct 8, 2024 ) Hardcover $30.00 ( 480pp ) 978-1-60945-849-2

The first tome in an epic series set to cover the span of human history, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s riveting novel Paradises Lost introduces an immortal who’s grown weary of human foibles, but who still recognizes the wondrous potential in community.

Known in multiple mythologies as the man who survived a world-consuming flood, Noam achieved immortality by accident, after being struck by lightening. Before that, he was the son of a respected chief, living in an idyllic community beside a worshiped lake. But his childhood respect for his father’s innovations gave way to disillusionment when his father claimed Noura, whom Noam loved, as his own. He retreated to the wilds, where his uncle, Barak—a gentle giant––taught him the benefits of depending on nature and chipped away at his xenophobia toward other clans. Challenging his father for the chief’s spot, he envisioned a new, more equitable future for his people.

But then the flood came.

Though its scope is grand, this series opener rests most in the Neolithic period, introducing Noam’s origins and hinting at adventures to come. Footnotes suggest grandiose future encounters with historical greats, some of whom Noam credits himself with influencing, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau. There are peeks at his present in the climate-changed world and hints at future confrontations with terrorists too.

Still, herein, the formation and maturation of Noam’s worldview—cultivated and weathered over “millennia [spent] witnessing technological, biological, and medical progress”—is the primary concern. He “does not idealize the ancients’ teaching and harbors no nostalgia.” Forced to persist in state of “human emptiness,” he thinks most of Noura, who was ““infinite women, one day submissive, another tyrannical, lascivious, morose, excited”—and, to him, irreplaceable.

Ambitious and engrossing, Paradises Lost is a magnificent series opener that introduces the man and the myth behind the story of Noah and the flood.

Reviewed by Michelle Anne Schingler September / October 2024

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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School Reading List

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Home » Children's & YA book reviews » Little Bear Lost by Jane Hissey

Little Bear Lost by Jane Hissey

Little bear lost – at a glance.

The School Reading Lists’ five word review : Evocative, detailed, artwork, enchant, nostalgic. Children’s book title : Little Bear Lost: An Old Bear and Friends Adventure. Children’s author : Steve Smallman. Genre : Children’s picture book. Published by : Templar Books . ISBN : 9781800788749. Recommended for children aged : 0-5 year-olds. This edition published : Paperback May 2024. This children’s book is ideal for: bedtime reading for younger children.

To see the latest price or order, click on the book cover image.

Our review:

Traditional toys, simple pleasures, and classic games. Little Bear Lost brought memories flooding back to me of reading Jane Hissey’s earlier books to my children many years ago. I recognised the characters in this book immediately, as did my 23-year-old daughter. Nostalgic like the original stories, Little Bear Lost is charming, with a gentle, easy-going adventure that lures you in.

When the toys play a game of hide and seek, one of them gets lost in the messy playroom. Will they ever find the lost toy and enjoy the enormous picnic that Old Bear has packed for them?

Positive, caring role models represented by magical toys teach good social skills. The illustrations are simple and beautiful, blending with the storyline, lovable characters, and comforting content into a soothing and relaxing bedtime story that little ones will cherish.

Many thanks to Templar Books for the review copy.

To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.

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If you like Little Bear Lost by Jane Hissey you might also like: our reviews of Mariana and the Merchild by Caroline Pitcher and Jackie Morris, The Moonlit Campout by Ruth Symons, Goodnight Sun by Eoin McLaughlin, Richard Scarry’s I Am a Bunny by Richard Scarry and Ole Risom and Old Bear by Jane Hissey.

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Books | Book review: A remote Italian village buries…

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Books | book review: a remote italian village buries secrets in ‘lost boy of santa chionia’.

People disappear, during war, in crimes, from accidents, even by choice. Juliet Grames explores how each disappearance comes with secrets in her sophisticated second novel, “The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia.”

Set during 1960 in a remote Italian village, “The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia” looks at old-fashioned ways thrust into a modern world, small-town life, politics and the lingering influence of WWII. At the center is a young woman trying to find her way on her own.

Francesca Loftfield, a 27-year-old American, is as lost as that mysterious boy. Francesca has come to Santa Chionia, “nestled in the remote heart of the Aspromonte massif in Southern Calabria” to establish a nursery school. The idealistic Philadelphian believes the school not only will educate the youngsters but also their parents in matters of hygiene and nutrition to reduce the child mortality rate. She wants to save “one needy child at a time.”

This isolated mountain village with its sheer cliffs hasn’t quite been able to embrace the 20th century. The village was ignored by the government after WWII, and a cholera epidemic wiped out a quarter of the residents. There is no running water, electricity, nor a proper road — getting there is quite arduous, as part of the journey must be done on foot. None of this deters Francesca, who believes she can make a difference.

Soon after Francesca arrives, the post office is swept away during a flood following a torrential storm that lasts weeks. This cuts off the mail service and destroys the footpath out of the village. The post office’s destruction unearths a decades-old skeleton that few village people seem to care about. Although busy planning the school, Francesca can’t resist the pleas of the priest’s housekeeper who wants to know if the remains are that of her son, who supposedly left more than 40 years before. Her son, Leo, was 15 years old when he left for America but has never been heard from since. Then a second woman wonders to Francesca if the remains may be her missing husband.

Francesca’s inquiries reveal aspects of Santa Chionia that villagers have tried to hide. The past may be buried even deeper in a place where the residents often refer to themselves as a big family.

Grames’ skill at building solid characters shines in “The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia.” Despite being in her late 20s and living in Italy for a couple of years, Francesca comes to Santa Chionia a bit naïve at the struggles of others, especially those in an isolated area. She thinks she understands the area because her mother’s heritage is Calabrian, but she has much to learn.

Grames subtly shows the contrast between the modern world Francesca is used to and life in the village, where running water would be a luxury. Television and rock ‘n’ roll would be inconceivable. It’s revealed that Francesca is telling events that happened to her more than 60 years before. Her time in Santa Chionia will influence the choices Francesca will make for her future.

Breathtaking vistas of Italy further seal the enthralling story of “The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia.”

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Inspired by a true story; an enchanting adventure about a lost penguin rescued from an oil spill, who transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. They soon become unlikely friends, so bo... Read all Inspired by a true story; an enchanting adventure about a lost penguin rescued from an oil spill, who transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. They soon become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them. Inspired by a true story; an enchanting adventure about a lost penguin rescued from an oil spill, who transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. They soon become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them.

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The Land of Lost Things by Andy Griffiths review – a madcap adventure for young readers

The first in Griffiths’ highly anticipated post-Treehouse series delights in silliness, imagination and problem-solving

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H ow do you start afresh after a runaway success? Adventures Unlimited is Andy Griffiths’ answer, his new children’s book series after the beloved 13-book Treehouse series with illustrator and collaborator Terry Denton. The first instalment in Adventures Unlimited, The Land of Lost Things, introduces an imaginative and madcap world of adventures for newly independent readers. Characters named You and Me embark on an adventure in their homemade adventure suits – cardboard box hats, toilet rolls, uggs and utility belts for comfort and function.

The action-packed adventure, in which Me is searching for their lost lucky rabbit’s foot, sees the pair stuck in the land of lost things. With awesome inventions and fantastical vehicles, You and Me travel across the land, meeting zany characters as they go: a bull who has lost his temper and is trying to learn to control it, and a flying watch who looks at its own wrist to check the time. Naturally, before Me can find the rabbit foot, the crew become lost and are interrupted by a couple of swashbuckling villains: the smarmy Johnny Knucklehead, his twin, Jimmy Knucklehead, and the Pirate Rabbit, all of whom are out to steal treasure and stop You, Me and their growing crew from getting home.

Known for his outrageous humour and imagination, Griffiths’ latest is no different. The book reads almost like improv comedy, every unlikely mishap having an outrageous solution that will probably lead to more trouble. This recursion is perhaps a little tiring for adult readers but it will delight Griffiths’ young fans. And although this is a new series, every lovable part of his absurd imagination remains strong and his creativity knows no bounds, as the adventurers encounter the odorous Lost Foot Empawrium and pirates on the high seas.

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Part of the subtle brilliance of this book is its narration, which begins with Me reminiscing about their previous adventures with You (“Remember the time we flew to the moon without a rocket?”), establishing the kind of adventures this series might cover. It has all the comfort of an older sibling or a parent sharing in imaginative play. This is harmonious with reading aloud and leaves room for the roles to be reversed, allowing the reader to grow into playing both parts and eventually pass the story on to a friend or younger sibling.

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After nearly 30 years of working together, this new series notably sees Griffiths part ways with longtime illustrator and collaborator Terry Denton, with Bill Hope taking up the reins as Griffiths’ co-conspirator. It’s not quite a graphic novel; Hope’s dynamic illustrations enhance the wacky plot, while sometimes providing extra details to linger on a page for longer, like snarky comments from tiny insects and crustaceans witnessing the story. There isn’t a single page without illustration, which will bolster the confidence of younger readers. Occasionally a whole spread will be illuminated by Hope’s illustrations alone, which gives the artist a chance to show off his own humour, such as with the dozens of buttons in the uncrashable car, including a “button button” and a “popcorn nozzle”.

The illustrations sometimes repeat the dialogue in speech bubbles, which is at times tedious, but gives young readers a moment to visualise the action and find the meaning of unfamiliar words (the language isn’t all that challenging, really, but some words might stretch younger readers).

The Land of Lost Things is a confident new era for Griffiths and the scope of You and Me’s adventures is truly unlimited. And we know they will go looking for another soon – a sequel is already confirmed for 2025.

The Land of Lost Things by Andy Griffiths and Bill Hope is out now in Australia (Pan Macmillan, $16.99) and will be published in the UK on 5 September (£12.99)

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‘Bad Monkey’ Review: Vince Vaughn Is the Rambling Antihero of This Apple TV+ Crime Comedy

The Bill Lawrence adaptation makes a solid case for more TV versions of Carl Hiaasen’s work, even if it falls short at times

The Florida Keys is paradise on earth. As long as you ignore the crime, the corruption, the eccentric locals and some issues involving a pet monkey in a mini diaper. After a fisherman pulls a severed arm from the water (one that’s flipping the bird), the authorities want the problem disposed of immediately. Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), a detective on suspension due to an unfortunate incident involving his girlfriend’s husband, is tasked with dumping the limb. He senses that not all right is in this case, and soon he finds himself on the hunt for a possible murderer. Cue the treacherous family members, a gorgeous coroner assistant, a real estate scheme in the Caribbean, voodoo queens and, yes, one misbehaving primate.

Apple TV+’s “Bad Monkey” brings together TV maven Bill Lawrence of “Scrubs” and “Ted Lasso” fame and Carl Hiaasen, perhaps the most beloved comedy crime writer in America. The patron saint of Florida sleaze has made his name on stories of weirdos, scandals and “it could only happen here” drama in the Sunshine State. Given the popularity of his work, and its naturally cinematic qualities (fast-flying dialogue, frenetic action, memorable oddball characters), it’s somewhat surprising that we haven’t gotten more adaptations of his work.

“Bad Monkey” certainly makes a solid case for more, even if it falls a touch short of its goals.

Typically for a Hiaasen story, there are many twists and turns, all helped along by a cavalcade of memorable weirdos. There’s Bonnie Witt (Michelle Monaghan), Yancy’s ex-girlfriend with a secret past; Even Stripling (Meredith Hagner), the widow of the owner of the missing arm who doesn’t seem especially bereaved by what’s happened to her husband; and Rosa Campesino (Natalie Martinez), a Miami coroner who becomes Yancy’s accomplice. Across the waters in Andros, Bahamas, resides the other weary protagonist of the tale, Neville Stafford (Ronald Peet.) Having lost his beloved beach house to ruthless out-of-town developers, he’s determined to do whatever it takes to get back what is his. And what else is a man with only a pet monkey to do but acquire the services of the local spell practitioner, the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith)? It doesn’t take long for everyone’s paths to cross in barmy fashion.

Lawrence is no stranger to a dash of cynicism in his comedy, although his best known works are those that put proud earnestness to the forefront, such as “Ted Lasso”, his Apple TV+ mega-hit. Hiaasen is not known for pulling his punches or leaning into the grotesque with his portrayals of seedy rich bullies, low-level crooks and cops with more on their mind than justice. Lawrence is mostly savvy enough to not get in the way of Hiaasen’s own language, or his oft-explored ecological concerns (the biggest punching bag of the show is a flop-sweaty real estate salesman, played by “SNL” star Alex Moffat, who is desperately trying to sell an ugly McMansion next to Yancy’s house.) It all works best when it embraces the sun-drenched noir of detective questions, shady witnesses and the general aura of bad things around every corner. If anything, “Bad Monkey” could stand to have more bad taste. Some jokes taken from the source material pull their punches in a way Hiaasen never would (Yancy’s attack on his girlfriend’s hubby is far worse in the novel, and funnier as a result.) It’s a Florida show, after all. Why not revel a little more in the state’s surrealness? At least they have the good decency to play a Jimmy Buffet song or two along the way.

On paper, Vince Vaughn is the ideal choice for a Carl Hiaasen antihero. As one of the core members of the Frat Pack, the early 2000s ragtag crew that defined mainstream American comedy cinema, Vaughn’s sardonic persona was one of the smart straight(-ish) guys of the group, halfway between sanity and madness. For the most part, he makes for a good protagonist. Yancy is a good cop who does bad things, a public mess who still has a strong moral core even as he causes havoc wherever he goes. In many ways, he’s a character you could have taken from any Vince Vaughn movie in 2006.

The issue is that the series has no idea when to rein in its star. Why tell one joke when you could make four in a row? Yancy just never stops talking and it wears thin very quickly. This is a Vaughn original since the book has Yancy keeping his quips pretty restrained. Was the star and executive producer being paid by the word? If only they’d given him and the audience some room to breathe.

A 300+ page book gets 10 episodes that are roughly an hour long each, and while some expansions to characters like Neville, Rosa and the Dragon Queen are welcome, the lag is also obvious (and it gives Vaughn even more time to fill dead air with rambling.) One wonders why Lawrence, an expert at the 30-minute comedy, didn’t tighten things up and commit to that format instead. It makes better sense for something that’s supposed to be as zippy as a Carl Hiaasen story. Instead, the expansion reveals the flaws in the narrative, akin to that very messy third season of “Ted Lasso”, which made the same mistake.

One of the bigger twists in the book is revealed rather early and you feel the air deflate the narrative as a result. Would that “Bad Monkey” have been more noir and less comedy.

“Bad Monkey” premieres Wednesday, Aug. 14, on Apple TV+.

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